1. Introduction

DREAM.3D has been completely rewritten from the ground up with ease of maintainability, usability, backwards compatibility and new features in mind. While the rewrite of the code base has resulted in a new underlying library, user’s are more interested in how this new version will effect their daily usage of DREAM3D-NX.

With this major rewrite BlueQuartz Software is now offering DREAM3D-NX in two distinct versions:

  • A commercial version with integrated visualization capabilities

  • A free version that has all the familiar features of the older version but without the visualization

DREAM3D-NX Commercial Version

Figure 1.1 DREAM3D-NX Commercial Version

1.1. User Interface Updates

Visualization

  • This functionality allows for viewing data of moderate size within the application itself. This functionality has various nuances and thus the user is highly encouraged to review Visualization Documentation <VisualizationUserInterface>.

New Widget Bar

  • In the bottom right corner (Pipeline, Filter List, etc…) allows widget visibility to be toggled on/off by clicking the respective button. See the Widget Visibility Bar section for further detail.

    New statusbar buttons to show/hide UI sections.

Filter Comments

  • Every filter has a comments section at the top of the parameters list. Comments written in this section are stored in the pipeline file, and as such will vary from pipeline to pipeline, but are persistent. At the current time, this section exclusively supports ASCII characters. This replaces the Pipeline Annotation filter from previous versions. See the Filter Comments section for further detail.

    The new Filter Comments section

Pinned Parameters

  • The pinned parameters is a new widget that can be used as a visible clipboard of sorts, and can be toggled on/off by clicking on pinned parameters in the new Widget Bar. This widget can be used by selecting a parameter from a filter and pressing the ( Pin Icon ) to the right of the parameter. This parameter will then appear in the Pinned Parameters widget, where said parameter will remain visible when clicking to other filters in the pipeline. Parameters can be removed from the widget by clicking the respective ( Unpin Icon ). See the Pinned Parameters section for further detail.

    Pinned Parameters user interface

Workflow Parameters

  • This new addition allows for a new level of abstraction within the software. Users may create a pipeline and select specific parameters, typically independent variables, from the filters to be displayed in a workflow file. The parameters visible in workflow file can be viewed in the Workflow Parameters tab. The idea behind this is to make DREAM3D’s functionality more accessible to those less versed in the field of Material Science and this software as a whole. See Workflow Parameters documentation for further detail.

    Workflow Parameters user interface

New Auto-save Feature

  • Unsaved pipelines are now stored in a temp file and will be saved implicitly everytime a change is made to the pipeline. This means that if the application crashes changes to the pipeline will be saved and can be restored so long as they are not discarded by the user when reopening.

Misc Updates

  • Removed Filter Library

    • The team decided this was more of a detractor in our UI and added far more complication due to a lack of organization.

    • The searching and sorting algorithms for Filter List should be sufficient to find desired filters.

  • Filter Help

    • Every filter now has an updated documentation found through the ( Help Icon ) icon. See the Viewing A Filter’s Help Page <FilterHelpView> section for further detail. Please report any discrepancies to the team.

  • Newly updated themes

    • Light

    • Dark

    • Native (uses system defaults)

List of Introduction Sections